August 16, 2009

As families become more kid-centered, children are showing up more often in almost all categories of editorial photography, from cooking to fashion to architecture and interiors. The esthetics of kids photography is also evolving. The genre is still dominated by an idealized view of childhood, where children look sweet and happy. But clients are starting to test those boundaries by staging images less, and showing the physical and emotional messiness of kids’ lives a little more. That trend reflects the documentary sensibility of many adult lifestyle photographers these days. (For more about that, see our story “The Kids Get Real” in the August print edition of PDN or online here). But the approaches to shooting adults and kids are quite different. Adults are relatively easy to direct, while kids live in a world of their own, don’t respond well to direction, and force photographers to shoot on the kids’ terms. To find out how to get pictures that convey a genuine sense of children and their world, we asked some successful kids shooters to share their tips and strategies. Here is the advice they shared.

1. Show the love. Kids feel and respond to the energy around them, so your success or failure as a kids’ photographer rides on the attitude you (and your crew) bring to the set. Photographer Rebecca Drobis attributes her success at capturing the free spirit and openness of kids first and foremost to her rapport with them. “I truly and wholeheartedly love being around kids,” she says. “I approach them almost as if I’m one of them. I’m always down on their level. Kids are very spontaneous, and I’m a very spontaneous photographer.” Stephanie Rausser also loves working with kids. And she screens every crew member she hires for kid friendliness. “I can feel energy when someone doesn’t like kids or want kids, and it’s horrible. Kids feel that, too,” she says. “So when I’m hiring, say, a stylist, I’ll ask the stylist’s agent, Do they have kids? Do they like kids? Do they work with kids?”

2. Do your own casting. Unlike adults, kids are difficult and sometimes impossible to direct (more on that in a moment), so your success at a shoot depends upon your chemistry with the kids you choose. Through the community work she does, including teaching photography to kids, Drobis has developed relationships with “an army of kids” (and their parents) that she can call on for shoots. She knows which situations will suit particular kids, and she doesn’t have to start building relationships from scratch on the set with kids she already knows.

3. Let kids be kids. Photographers who shoot kids say you just can’t direct kids like adults. It just creates tension that will show up in your pictures. Instead, you have to create an environment where the kids are comfortable, bide your time, and be ready for the genuine moments you can’t predict. Miriam Hsia, photo director at Parenting magazine, says she sees photographers get the best results when they set up scenarios where kids feel like they’re on a play date, or at home meeting a friend, rather than at a photo shoot. “You can’t stage the shoot at the time you want. You have to grab it while the child is in the midst of it,” she says. She also advises photographers to pay close attention to the off-moments that aren’t part of the script, such as when a kid is sleeping or crying or being messy. The memorable moments often occur when your instinct is to turn your attention away from the kids, she says. “You have to keep the camera handy.” Photographer Embry Rucker takes that approach, and to make it work, he says he’s learned to “build gobs of time” into the shooting schedule.

4. Keep the parents—especially high-strung stage parents—off the set. “Not having the parents around when you’re photographing is a good way to develop a relationship with a child,” Drobis says. “I find it a lot easier when the parent is not involved. They have a vested interest and get stressed out. Kids have instincts. They vibe on whatever the situation is. Their parents are stressed out, and they get stressed.”

5. Shoot close, and keep the lights and gear to minimum. Drobis says she always shoots portraits of kids with a wide lens. “I want to be really close to them,” she explains. Hsia observes that novice kids photographers tend to shoot at arm’s length, “but that’s not close enough.” The images have more impact if you get right down at the kids’ level and show things from their perspective, she explains. That may mean shooting on your knees, or even your stomach. And because of the proximity, your gear can quickly turn into a distraction. “We try to use natural light. We try to shoot untethered. Don’t put all that equipment in [the kid’s] face. Strobes are unobtrusive if they augment natural light,” Hsia says.

6. Schedule shoots for early in the day. “I try to shoot kids first thing in the morning. They’re better in the morning,” Rausser says. It’s really a no-brainer, but it’s easy to forget that kids don’t just suck it up like adults do when they’re tired. They just melt down, and they’ll take your shoot with them.

7. Do everything possible to make sure the kids are comfortable, engaged, and having a good day. “Talk to them. Get your assistants to talk to them, so there are not a lot of big, old people looking down on them,” Rausser advises. “Get them interested in trying on clothes, or putting on makeup. That gets a lot of girls going. Have a studio teacher playing games with them. If you can, have pets they can play with.” Rucker says his strategy is to explain to the kids what’s happening, and he’s careful to avoid being domineering, bossy, or condescending. And he advises, “Figure out who [the kids] like and listen to. Maybe the makeup guy has a funny beard, and the kids engage with him because of that.”

8. Get problem kids off the set fast. “Sometimes they have huge meltdowns and a good percentage of time it’s infectious,” Rausser notes. Prevention is key. Embry Rucker says his crew keeps close tabs on the kids’ moods, and he gets a briefing about each one before they come on set, so he knows who’s getting tired or hungry or bored and inattentive. Set teachers, which are required in California to monitor kids on set and provide tutoring if they’re missing school, can be invaluable for spotting trouble early and heading it off. Rausser tries to remove problem kids before trouble escalates “because kids are smart,” she says. “They see a kid leave [after a full-blown tantrum], and they think, ‘I can do that and get out of here, too.’”